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Billy and the Devil
That night, I dream. And when I wake up I remember watching a film with Nannan about a ventriloquist who went mad, his dummy coming to life and speaking for itself. My dream is like the end of the film where the ventriloquist and the dummy are in the madhouse, all these mad devil-faces pressed against the iron bars of the cell door, laughing as the dummy gets up off his chair and walks towards the ventriloquist who screams. The dummy strangles him. I can't remember in the dream if I was the ventriloquist or the dummy. I'm in a funny mood all day. I don't say much. I don't feel like it.
384 pages, Paperback
First published December 9, 2012
2 people are currently reading
539 people want to read
About the author
Dean Lilleyman
3 books36 followersThat night, I dream. And when I wake up I remember watching a film with Nannan about a ventriloquist who went mad, his dummy coming to life and speaking for itself. My dream is like the end of the film where the ventriloquist and the dummy are in the madhouse, all these mad devil-faces pressed against the iron bars of the cell door, laughing as the dummy gets up off his chair and walks towards the ventriloquist who screams. The dummy strangles him. I can't remember in the dream if I was the ventriloquist or the dummy. I'm in a funny mood all day. I don't say much. I don't feel like it.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 29, 2018
A stunning début novel and some of the most inventive story writing I've ever come across. As I read this I kept thinking that Dean Lilleyman must be the reincarnation of Hubert Selby Jr. the darkness is there, the same dark humour is used and the ability to make you love a destructive and selfish character is put to maximum use.
I've read a few books on addiction now but this is the first one I've read where the addiction is alcohol and it has raised my awareness just what these people are going through when fighting their addictions.
We see all of Billy's life in this book, his birth, childhood, first sexual experience, growing up, getting a job, becoming a father and throwing it all away. Billy is aware of what his drinking is doing, but he can't help it, it makes him depressed, which makes him drink more and that's when you really start to feel for him, he is trying but it's all so hopeless.
The writing style is amazing, we get to read in first person, second person, third person, screen play, phone conversations, confessions, dreams and even a Punch and Judy show. Sometimes you come across a book where you feel the need to read a section out loud, this book has a chapter which makes you wanna drink loads and then scream it out loud at 2am. Very very clever stuff, really looking forward to what Dean writes next.
If you are a fan of Hubert Selby Jr. then you have to give this book a try.
Blog review https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2018...
I've read a few books on addiction now but this is the first one I've read where the addiction is alcohol and it has raised my awareness just what these people are going through when fighting their addictions.
We see all of Billy's life in this book, his birth, childhood, first sexual experience, growing up, getting a job, becoming a father and throwing it all away. Billy is aware of what his drinking is doing, but he can't help it, it makes him depressed, which makes him drink more and that's when you really start to feel for him, he is trying but it's all so hopeless.
The writing style is amazing, we get to read in first person, second person, third person, screen play, phone conversations, confessions, dreams and even a Punch and Judy show. Sometimes you come across a book where you feel the need to read a section out loud, this book has a chapter which makes you wanna drink loads and then scream it out loud at 2am. Very very clever stuff, really looking forward to what Dean writes next.
If you are a fan of Hubert Selby Jr. then you have to give this book a try.
Blog review https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2018...
November 2, 2016
There are lots of chapters in Billy’s life. They come alive in fragments. Stories by siblings, friends, lovers and abusers. They are his memories and they are others memories. Everyone getting a turn to pop a piece of the jigsaw that may make us all understand why Billy is Billy. A trouble magnet with a penchant for mucking about. He narrates without knowing, but knows enough to tell all. His voice changing with the years. Like a twisted Adrian Mole. There are blackouts and there are times where he wished he was. We watch him grow up, innocent, and very much loved except Billy doesn’t know it. Typical lad, he can be thick as two planks at times. But memory is a funny thing and one man’s food is another man’s poison. For Billy, alcohol is the hemlock, the key to kill his soul.
Billy grew up in a time of unplanned pregnancies, stigma and a sanctimonious, unforgiving religion. Admission is the first step to absolution, but everyone is too afraid to admit their sins, their crimes, for fear of being made an outcast. A madness of guilt, decades of remorse. Billy is surrounded by strong women. They and a cruel society shape him. In England, the pub is Billy’s church. Blame and a chain of silence, of not knowing what to say, to destroy demons before they take over is what Billy lacks. His psalms are made flesh. The drink oils his demons, it latches onto that part of himself that doesn’t give a fuck, that cannot see consequence. Unbroken cycles, a run of bad luck or simply surviving. He was showing tell tale signs of chronic alcoholism at school. Hiding the evidence, lying, loss of control, a trail of hurt. Busy with his cocktails at a young age, he was given a choice, and Billy chose the one that was easy. The one that gave him instant relief. From what? That is what Billy needs to find out, and sometimes one just cant find the answer. Deep down everyone could see the best Billy, the questioning billy, the inquisitive, he wanted answers, but in doing so that opens a whole new nest of unbelievable behaviour. Nurture, nature, or both. A life of sorry is a traumatic existence.
Billy has a taste for music, as the pages pass, my compassion grows in paper leaves. The writing and story just gets more intense. I cried and winced, smiled in the undertow. Billy has a wonderful humour to squirm in. An extreme cathartic pleasure. He is the ultimate underdog, I so want Billy to win. The reader is spared no secrets, it is all laid out for us to make our own judgement. His life forever a dichotomy of extremes and as bitter as his pint. Chapters move back and forth, words tick the clock of memories that weave in and out. Billy’s fate is in his hands. Regrets and luck is in the eye of the beholder.
Billy grew up in a time of unplanned pregnancies, stigma and a sanctimonious, unforgiving religion. Admission is the first step to absolution, but everyone is too afraid to admit their sins, their crimes, for fear of being made an outcast. A madness of guilt, decades of remorse. Billy is surrounded by strong women. They and a cruel society shape him. In England, the pub is Billy’s church. Blame and a chain of silence, of not knowing what to say, to destroy demons before they take over is what Billy lacks. His psalms are made flesh. The drink oils his demons, it latches onto that part of himself that doesn’t give a fuck, that cannot see consequence. Unbroken cycles, a run of bad luck or simply surviving. He was showing tell tale signs of chronic alcoholism at school. Hiding the evidence, lying, loss of control, a trail of hurt. Busy with his cocktails at a young age, he was given a choice, and Billy chose the one that was easy. The one that gave him instant relief. From what? That is what Billy needs to find out, and sometimes one just cant find the answer. Deep down everyone could see the best Billy, the questioning billy, the inquisitive, he wanted answers, but in doing so that opens a whole new nest of unbelievable behaviour. Nurture, nature, or both. A life of sorry is a traumatic existence.
Billy has a taste for music, as the pages pass, my compassion grows in paper leaves. The writing and story just gets more intense. I cried and winced, smiled in the undertow. Billy has a wonderful humour to squirm in. An extreme cathartic pleasure. He is the ultimate underdog, I so want Billy to win. The reader is spared no secrets, it is all laid out for us to make our own judgement. His life forever a dichotomy of extremes and as bitter as his pint. Chapters move back and forth, words tick the clock of memories that weave in and out. Billy’s fate is in his hands. Regrets and luck is in the eye of the beholder.
February 24, 2016
I was given a copy of this novel in exchange for a honest review.
I started this book without reading any reviews or a synopsis and having now read it I know that it is not my usual genre and would not generally appeal to me. That said I read the book as promised and found there were large parts of it that I really enjoyed but other parts that left me a little shell shocked. I am not prudish but I did find much of the dialogue and graphic descriptions a little too raw at times. Yes I understand the language represents the character but repeated swearing becomes a little tiresome after awhile.
The book is in fact based around the authors own experiences battling alcoholism which makes the story more remarkable. The book is full of observations, some will make you cringe, some are sad and others will make you laugh out loud.
I was too distracted by the graphic content to fully appreciate some of the finer points of the novel. Having read other reviews there is a lot of support for the authors style and they fully appreciate it. Dean Lillyman can certainly write well but sorry not for me.
I started this book without reading any reviews or a synopsis and having now read it I know that it is not my usual genre and would not generally appeal to me. That said I read the book as promised and found there were large parts of it that I really enjoyed but other parts that left me a little shell shocked. I am not prudish but I did find much of the dialogue and graphic descriptions a little too raw at times. Yes I understand the language represents the character but repeated swearing becomes a little tiresome after awhile.
The book is in fact based around the authors own experiences battling alcoholism which makes the story more remarkable. The book is full of observations, some will make you cringe, some are sad and others will make you laugh out loud.
I was too distracted by the graphic content to fully appreciate some of the finer points of the novel. Having read other reviews there is a lot of support for the authors style and they fully appreciate it. Dean Lillyman can certainly write well but sorry not for me.
September 20, 2015
That was a journey, and a good one. A proper roller coaster read. A book like I've never read before. The life of 'Billy'is on the surface is an outrage. Extremely raw, honest, graphic and very believable. I think everyone in some small way, has experienced a part of Bill's life.
Something completely new for me, but highly enjoyable.
Something completely new for me, but highly enjoyable.
December 13, 2012
This review originally appeared on my blog at http://katethepoet.wordpress.com/2012...
Last week the world was given something it didn’t know it was waiting for: Dean Lilleyman’s debut novel Billy and the Devil. Made up of short stories, prose poems, and script, Billy gives us tragedy, dark humour and a grim determination to live in spite of one of society’s most common addictions: alcoholism.
This novel doesn’t preach, and it doesn’t glamorise. These are two things I love about it. When I first read it, my reaction was that the author’s style reminded me of a combination of Oliver Stone’s representation of cocaine addiction in the film Scarface*, and Irvine Welsh’s gritty realism in Trainspotting and other books – it tells a valuable truth without caring who it offends, and it does this in an artful way.
Without getting too personal, I grew up with alcoholic family members, and as an adult I have been close to several people with similar (or even worse) addiction issues. From my experience of these things, I can tell you – Billy, although fictional and a very worst-case-scenario, is in many respects the real deal.
For this reason, I would give this novel a trigger warning for anyone who has lived with alcoholism and its effects, but if you do feel up to it, read the book. It’s more than worth it.
Lilleyman doesn’t sugar-coat or gloss over, as many authors do with various types of addiction, but he gives us Billy’s grim reality with tenderness: this person you see drunk in the street, is a person too, often with family members who love them but struggle to understand self-destructive tendencies. There were chapters/stories in this book that left me in tears, particularly involving Billy’s mother, his wife, Grace, and his children, Scarlett and Joe.
The author also gives us the truth with gallows humour. The chapter ‘Fat bitch tells me I’m barred.’ has become notorious in some Sheffield literary circles – and I’m not going to trick you into anything, it is uncomfortable to read – but it is at once darkly funny, disturbingly graphic, and terribly sad.
It feels necessary to say that words in a review will not do this book justice. You need to experience it. People who are far better writers than I have said far prettier words about Billy, and I think even then, the book just has to be read for what it is. Keep your mind open, and your humanity close at hand. There is much to consider as you read this work.
Billy and the Devil is published by Crooked and available via Kobo (priced at £3). Excerpts from the novel, purchase information and further reviews/blurbs are available on Dean Lilleyman’s website [http://deanlilleyman.jux.com].
*Particularly, for some reason, it brought to mind Tony Montana’s “bad guy” speech: holding society’s “villains” and “outcasts” up to the light, we realise a great many “good guys” aren’t much better and need the “bad guys” to appear so.
Last week the world was given something it didn’t know it was waiting for: Dean Lilleyman’s debut novel Billy and the Devil. Made up of short stories, prose poems, and script, Billy gives us tragedy, dark humour and a grim determination to live in spite of one of society’s most common addictions: alcoholism.
This novel doesn’t preach, and it doesn’t glamorise. These are two things I love about it. When I first read it, my reaction was that the author’s style reminded me of a combination of Oliver Stone’s representation of cocaine addiction in the film Scarface*, and Irvine Welsh’s gritty realism in Trainspotting and other books – it tells a valuable truth without caring who it offends, and it does this in an artful way.
Without getting too personal, I grew up with alcoholic family members, and as an adult I have been close to several people with similar (or even worse) addiction issues. From my experience of these things, I can tell you – Billy, although fictional and a very worst-case-scenario, is in many respects the real deal.
For this reason, I would give this novel a trigger warning for anyone who has lived with alcoholism and its effects, but if you do feel up to it, read the book. It’s more than worth it.
Lilleyman doesn’t sugar-coat or gloss over, as many authors do with various types of addiction, but he gives us Billy’s grim reality with tenderness: this person you see drunk in the street, is a person too, often with family members who love them but struggle to understand self-destructive tendencies. There were chapters/stories in this book that left me in tears, particularly involving Billy’s mother, his wife, Grace, and his children, Scarlett and Joe.
The author also gives us the truth with gallows humour. The chapter ‘Fat bitch tells me I’m barred.’ has become notorious in some Sheffield literary circles – and I’m not going to trick you into anything, it is uncomfortable to read – but it is at once darkly funny, disturbingly graphic, and terribly sad.
It feels necessary to say that words in a review will not do this book justice. You need to experience it. People who are far better writers than I have said far prettier words about Billy, and I think even then, the book just has to be read for what it is. Keep your mind open, and your humanity close at hand. There is much to consider as you read this work.
Billy and the Devil is published by Crooked and available via Kobo (priced at £3). Excerpts from the novel, purchase information and further reviews/blurbs are available on Dean Lilleyman’s website [http://deanlilleyman.jux.com].
*Particularly, for some reason, it brought to mind Tony Montana’s “bad guy” speech: holding society’s “villains” and “outcasts” up to the light, we realise a great many “good guys” aren’t much better and need the “bad guys” to appear so.
December 30, 2015
This is such an astonishing debut that I read this book in one sitting; it was so addictive that I couldn't bear to put it down. I have never read a book like it - it is so poetic and beautifully dark. The subject matter of an alcoholic spiralling into self-destruction was at times difficult to read but I was completely entranced by the devil in my inability to stop reading.
From the moment that his father left his mother pregnant, Billy's path was mapped out for him. It was a path he happily followed as long as there were bottles of Bells along the way. Billy travelled through life like a tornado, leaving damage and destruction in his wake, not caring who he hurt or what he did as long as he could drink himself into oblivion.
As dark as this book was, there are some really funny moments in it. The book is so realistic, emotive and raw that Billy's actions caused me to both laugh and cry. There are incidents in the social club and in Burtons that made me cry with laughter but also to question the effect of alcohol to make Billy do these things in the first place.
This is a book that should be given to all alcoholics on their road to recovery - highlighting the damage caused by excessive alcohol consumption to your life and your body. It is an absolutely amazing debut novel that shows the effects of alcoholism in a sobering light.
I received this book from the publisher, Urbane, in exchange for an honest review.
From the moment that his father left his mother pregnant, Billy's path was mapped out for him. It was a path he happily followed as long as there were bottles of Bells along the way. Billy travelled through life like a tornado, leaving damage and destruction in his wake, not caring who he hurt or what he did as long as he could drink himself into oblivion.
As dark as this book was, there are some really funny moments in it. The book is so realistic, emotive and raw that Billy's actions caused me to both laugh and cry. There are incidents in the social club and in Burtons that made me cry with laughter but also to question the effect of alcohol to make Billy do these things in the first place.
This is a book that should be given to all alcoholics on their road to recovery - highlighting the damage caused by excessive alcohol consumption to your life and your body. It is an absolutely amazing debut novel that shows the effects of alcoholism in a sobering light.
I received this book from the publisher, Urbane, in exchange for an honest review.
January 29, 2016
Brilliant book. Like nothing I've read before. Highly recommend it.
May 8, 2020
Kind of a disappointment. Not that the story wasn't true to form, as far as the depths alcoholism will drag someone down to; that was spot on accurate.( Believe me. I know. Been there.) I don't know what it was. Just seemed like I was missing something. Plus, it's written in a language I'm not familiar with; Scottish ? Some form of British slang ?? Not understanding some of the wording might have taken me out of the story.
March 8, 2016
I received this from Net Galley for a review.
This is definitely not what I would typically read. The description doesn't really do much to prepare you for what kind of read this is, except to forewarn you of the content that may not be for everyone.
It is a rather raw read, with some graphic scenes and a very convoluted structure. Much of what is written here makes little sense. Billy is a very complicated character who doesn't grow at all. You are not really left with an understanding of what Lilleyman wanted to show you, teach you, or impart to you in any way.
Scatter-brained as the writing is, there are a few things that take place, and thought provocations that help keep the book interesting. There were times where I just didn't want to read further, yet couldn't put the book down.
This isn't a typical book. There really isn't a plot. It's more like a very strange diary. I can't say that I enjoyed the way this was written. Different, but not for me.
The point of view changes a few times, but ultimately resides with Billy. I really didn't get anything out of the read, but I still wanted to finish it. So, two stars.
This is definitely not what I would typically read. The description doesn't really do much to prepare you for what kind of read this is, except to forewarn you of the content that may not be for everyone.
It is a rather raw read, with some graphic scenes and a very convoluted structure. Much of what is written here makes little sense. Billy is a very complicated character who doesn't grow at all. You are not really left with an understanding of what Lilleyman wanted to show you, teach you, or impart to you in any way.
Scatter-brained as the writing is, there are a few things that take place, and thought provocations that help keep the book interesting. There were times where I just didn't want to read further, yet couldn't put the book down.
This isn't a typical book. There really isn't a plot. It's more like a very strange diary. I can't say that I enjoyed the way this was written. Different, but not for me.
The point of view changes a few times, but ultimately resides with Billy. I really didn't get anything out of the read, but I still wanted to finish it. So, two stars.
March 8, 2016
It's not an easy book. The mix of and POVs and different writing styles is challenging and very interesting.
Billy's life is told as the sum of small and tragic events. He says: "I'm tired of being me" and all readers will understand him. "All I know is that something black and heavy sits n my belly, making everything black, so black and so heavy that I can't carry it anymore."
It's not really entertaining but it's literature that makes you think.
Billy's life is told as the sum of small and tragic events. He says: "I'm tired of being me" and all readers will understand him. "All I know is that something black and heavy sits n my belly, making everything black, so black and so heavy that I can't carry it anymore."
It's not really entertaining but it's literature that makes you think.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews